Dallas Shifting Police As Robberies Increase; Is It A “Band-Aid” Fix?

By |November 11, 2013

Robberies in Dallas were up five percent through October compared with last year, says the Dallas Morning News. Business robberies rose more than 20 percent. The police department plans to add as many as 10 detectives to the robbery unit. Five detectives are being added to the family violence unit. The city has been shaken by several high-profile domestic violence deaths and the failure of several detectives to investigate thousands of cases, but critics say the plan to strip manpower from other units — such as those that handle financial crimes and juvenile victims — may cripple their efficiency and could even endanger lives.

They say the department could draw the manpower from less critical areas such as a unit that is tasked with reaching out to kids. “They're applying a Band-Aid fix to a long-term problem and they're just moving the problem from one unit to the next,” said Senior Corporal Ron Pinkston, president of the Dallas Police Association.

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